The Long Lost Twin of Power is Information.

A few years ago while waiting for my call up letter for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), I decided to engage myself by getting a job. Applied for a few and got a lucky break. I was fresh out of school and my head was “hot” with knowledge. I felt ready.

I meticulously ironed my suit, got my credentials ready and with a smile entered the interview hall. Every question that was asked was answered with a plum.
“I am gonna get this job”, I thought to myself.

You know how girls say they want a guy that sweeps them off their feet? I literally felt that way when the next line of questioning began and not in a good way.

“What do you know about the company?”
“Who is the owner of the company?”
“What position did you apply for and how can you contribute your quota?”
“Where is the head quarters of the company?”
“What are the company’s culture, mission, and values?”
“What type of products and services do we engage in?”

I felt like a duck in the firing line. Every interviewer was taking a shot at my incompetence especially that one woman that didn’t just like me. The ground couldn’t open up and swallow me any sooner.

We were thought in school to get ready for an interview by getting ourselves personally ready. I didn’t know I would be asked to tell them what they already knew. What a bummer!

Suffice to say that I didn’t get the job but for every ‘failure’, there is a lesson. I learnt mine the embarrassing hard way.

A few years after and with my NYSC discharge certificate, I applied for jobs and got my lucky break. Again. This time I wasn’t gonna be caught pants down. Once bitten, a hundred times ready.

I spent countless hours on the Internet digging into the company’s past, present and ‘future’. Discovered their core values, their goals and mission. Where the company’s head office is situated and where the branch offices are also located. Also sought and found considerable information about the owner; where he schooled, where he served (NYSC), where he worked, where he lives, his net worth, his other business interests and more. I was information hungry and after my research on the company, I proceeded for the interview.

Two hours after, three different interviews by three different interviewees including the Billionaire CEO. I got the damn job!!!!!

All confessed to have never interviewed a prospective employee who knew so much about the company like I did.

Like they say in a part of Nigeria: “Warri man no dey carry last”.

Knowledge is powerful.

How often have we seen people go for interviews without any adequate information about the company?
How often do we see people marry someone they hardly know anything about?
How often do we see people venturing into a business without adequate information on the business?
How many times have we seen girls enter into a relationship with a man they never knew was married?
In how many occasions have we seen people defrauded by business partners they failed to do their due diligence on?

Before you take any step. Any step at all. Be it a business project, a relationship proposal, a job interview, a vacation, a new food, anything whatsoever. Seek information, spend on it if you had to because if you think knowledge is expensive, try ignorance.

The new source of POWER is not money in the hands of the few but information in the hands of many – Anonymous.